A new Human.

 

A new Human.

Some time ago I was listening to a past American president's campaign speech. He was threatening harm to people who didn’t support him for the next elections. To me, that is the end of democracy. I wonder what we are planning to do next.

Years ago, I came to Canada to build a new life. There were no refugee hotel rooms or any financial help or direction, as provided by the government today. Now we have the potential of a government next door that insists that we should pay higher taxes and increase military spending or the neighbors will ask the enemies to harm us. Things are changing but not to benefit me. My situation is not improving relative to my efforts. Am I taking things personally or am I crazy to see it this way?

I am a firm believer in the potential of mental health science to help people. We can go a long way with the right kind of help. Keep the physical body well, understand the mental part and work with the spiritual aspect. Being short on any of those will not provide for a pleasant existence. I accept mental health help for me and for those I am with. I take help when provided.

Combining the above, I come up with a crazy conclusion. Humans are mentally sick. Not just some of us, but all or most of us. We are born with a self-preserve mechanism that protects us from destroying ourselves and perhaps the world we live in. It’s like a reflex. If my hand gets close to a fire, the hand jumps away from the fire faster than I can think. Am I in a reality that I understand, or is my mind building a new existence? Is “now” the end of the way we were? If so, which way do I want it to go? All options are open.

Where I grew up in Israel, we had Jackals and Hyenas. The Hyenas are a female-dominated species. At twilight, they produce a blood-curdling cry that freezes the heart and paralyzes the prey. Their principal weapon is fear. At night I used to lie in my bed and hear the hyenas, thinking that Satan is out and we are doomed. Now I am old and again I have the feeling that some evil force is dominating humans and we have no escape plan. Satan, Trump, Putin, Netanyahu, and other power-seeking selfish entities compete to dominate and shape us. Here, evolution is just starting on a new trajectory. If we humans can survive a major change in how we are made, the species will emerge differently than it went in. It will be changed mentally, drawing upon something old but new that we named “spiritual”. Now I am visualizing five billion people going in the same direction, with no force or coercion to dominate others. Can it be done? I remember we are over five billion, but we are all one. My imagination is building a new, better human being, but there is very little time to properly plan what it should be

Imagining a new form of human being is difficult, since I am looking for a new and improved version. Repeating old mistakes will not do. We shouldn’t be aiming at simply increasing the population as we always were. It’s done and now quality takes over from quantity. A new human should include something immaterial we call beauty. We are done with efficiency.

People have been digging the natural resources up for thousands of years, finding new ways to dig better and more. Name a natural resource and you find us extracting it very efficiently and refining it even faster. We don’t need all that we produce and can use recycling for the rest of our lives. The new humans will do exactly that. Life will be tied to our ability to adapt to new ways. For generations, we have been learning the wrong things, causing overproduction and death to our planet. By cheating and making useless things, our so-called business drowned us in garbage and built useless projects. Now our noses are against the wall.

It is time for the cheaters to face reality and come back to where we need them. We don’t need all their extra oil and gas or other things they make just to be rich. No need for more roads to China either. What we need is a change of heart.

The new people I am imagining will keep busy by helping and educating others.

In the new (imaginary) world, all the effort will be aimed towards what we know is good. Weapons will not be needed and nature will be allowed to punish those who go against it. People will see a reality in which there is a hell on earth for those harming our planet and the good people on it.

Nature, or God, as I call it, is a harsh judge. It does what is needed and can’t play human games considering humans’s forever-changing feelings. Throwing people to the mercy of that court is a harsh step, but sometimes is necessary if we don’t learn what will save us the easy way.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

How can humans survive?

 

How can humans survive?

I had a son a long time ago, and he survived only one day. (Now I have another). The doctors could not help him and prayers did not prolong his life here on earth. It was a case of “let God’s will be done.” Is a one-day-long life less than many years of life? I think when God prolongs life here on earth, it is for those left behind, not for the person who will not live another day. I try to stay alive and let God decide for how long. He probably planned the life ahead before it began, for reasons I didn’t know. A God who planned and created universes doesn’t need my computing power to reach His goals.

If you ask people what they expect the government to do for them, joy probably gets many votes. Many will answer that they expect long and healthy lives. Nowadays, there will be a pleasure component attached. People expect pleasure of some sort, such as holidays, or perhaps things that money can buy. People in our world as we know it assume that there will be divine intervention offering prosperity or other pleasures as part of the deal. Life should include happiness, or is it a big enough gift?

Words and more words. Love and happiness can only exist if there are others to enjoy it or suffer it. Over the years, we learned that all of humankind is a part of one creature that is connected without an overall skin. We like them, hate them, force them, and learn from them. There is no life without them and “them” is interchangeable with “us.”

For humans, there is only one way to exist on earth. We try to be more successful by forcing each other to be the same as ourselves, but we always fail. We try to make others do our work and they instead make us do theirs. Our goals can only be achieved if we do them together, and that is by agreement, which is a lofty goal. The one way is working together if we wish to survive and it’s not always fair.

Again, to win, we must all work together, which we cannot do since we trip each other. I build and another kicks it over, so I will not have more than they do. We both lose, so I try to force. Forcing people to do things is very costly and often dangerous.

A big problem for us is that we only know how to play games to win or lose. We used to play for pride. Each of us wanted to be the best in something like a sport or a skill and show it off. We gave it up and changed the word. Now we find people saying something like I am proud to be gay. I have a hard time figuring out how being proud of a skill that takes a lot of effort to obtain relates to sexual attraction, but I don’t wish to offend, so I wait for the answer to come to me. I wonder if it ever will. For now, I work hard not to say things that may offend good people. I am just one human and there is surely enough that I don’t understand, but possibly will.

Why can’t I understand the world I am living in? That is a two thousand years secret. That which some of us call God created a conflict which forces us to go against our nature to have a nature at all. Male and female, He created them. The males can subjugate the females but in a short time will all die. Females are the only ones who reproduce.

The males and some aggressive females try to use physical force and fail. Females use their softness to soak up the male strength and equally take part in the art of creation. My wife can get her way even if I deploy the most modern weapons that exist. A shy smile that is stronger than an aircraft carrier group. If she says “I love you” I will be ready to disarm a three million dollars supersonic ballistic missile. I have no defense against the soft power.

Yet, I love this life the way it is. I think that she also does. We can’t win while we fight with equally lethal weapons, even if they are different. We play a game for the joy, not to win. It never ends.

In the beginning, we were more like animals and killed each other for gain. After thousands or even millions of years, we learned to work together and civilization grew. Our Lord said, “Whenever two or more of you gather in my name, I am in their midst.” We tested the theory, and it worked. The soft energy wins. It is the hard energy that must be on guard or it will lose its strength and throw the balance off.

I am glad to be a human. Let’s play together and nobody wins. I just want to enjoy the game.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

Note: Tuesdays with Morrie is an interesting book if you like.

 

 

 

 A rock speeds through The Milky Way, which is assumed to be empty, but it’s not. It is turning around its axel. Flying around a small burning star (Sun) that gives it heat energy providing “Life.” The formation is named by the humans upon it, the” world.” Some stardust captured material that is rotting slowly doing things on its own. A thing that has a mind. From tiny to huge particles and observable waves, a small veneer is what humans call “Life.” I am existing in “Life.” Life as I know it can only be in “Light” and “light” is something material. It is balanced against something “spiritual” which I can’t understand. The people of old understood that the emptiness we can sense is full of something that yet is not observable by my human senses. It is not material, but we would call it energy. Just like our human subconscious, it has a mind that stirs it towards goals. It can “act.”

At this point in my life, I am suffering and having a hard time wanting to stay alive while in pain. We don’t crave pain, but we want to be with others we care about. However, I have a job to do and I don’t want to give it up, pain or no pain. My task is to sow the seed of hope and happiness, starting here and spreading out. My mind is whispering, do something good. It will spread.

We talk a lot about saving lives and invest much in saving lives. Equipment, training, infrastructure, and insurance all go in. Also, at the same time, we make significant efforts to destroy life as we know it. The year 2024 just began and I see efforts expanded toward human action that will cost lives and many resources. Nations are getting ready to fight over water, air, living space, and other resources we dig up from the ground. There are millions and billions of dollars budgeted for weapons and gaining strategic or economic advantage. Over here in my peaceful valley, we are working hard to produce materials for weapons and industry. In other areas, efforts are geared towards the production of cheap energy. Meteorological coal and carbon for burning is what we produce and we try to do it without paying taxes. CEOs are getting rich while migrants and less skilled people are forced to work for less. The competition is the fiercest at the bottom.

I work hard to figure out if there is a way to achieve Christian love and peace in this world, considering what we have become. Is the Christian model the answer to our inequality, which brings wars, poverty, and a need or desire to fight and kill each other?

We have a complicated task to solve. About half of us learned through life to fight for advantage over the other half. I know I used the word “fight” and we hurt and kill to do so. My present provincial leader is openly advocating to fight my federal leader to gain more prosperity. We call it the “right” of the political divide, and I pay for lawyers on both sides left and right. Politicians and business experts are busy creating an environment that will help them gain more prosperity in many ways. The Casino must always win. Is that enough to keep someone interested in life?

However, I like to view what we do from another vantage point. First, look and see what is good for all of us. The group is most important. Be sure that some will cheat, and take advantage. Society trained us how to be humans and is often not the best example of such. Life must go on with small and great contributions each doing what they can. I look at the forest until I can start seeing trees. Now I look more to see what is good.

I follow a young Jewish Rabbi from thousands of years ago. He had no technology or modern tools. His teachings were about human behaviors and he lost his earthly life. Is it wise to use Christianity as guidance for this time in history?

I take examples from my faith and trust God to lead where I should go based on intuition.

 

I have to trust in God blindly. I am scared, but I do it. My Christian faith fills me up stronger than intellect and all material things. Life is all there is, and it leads to something eternal. If I have the faith that I need, I may move our kind forward. If I don’t, we go on searching where there is little hope of finding. Should we living humans invest our time on earth believing something immaterial? I am ready.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

 

We are living in the most interesting time in human history.

 Did we choose it? Did God make a mistake by allowing “Original Sin?” Can God make mistakes? Would perfect eternal life that never ends have been better for us humans, considering what we have now?

My favorite question about the entire problem is, did the woman cause our eternal problem by listening to the serpent instead of to God? When I read the bible in Hebrew, I feel women are blamed for things perhaps more than they should be, considering all the stories. We forget they are the mothers, mates, life-giving humans doing what God tells them to do. They take a tiny bit of material, light in this case, and convert it to a human who obeys or ignores the will of the creator. The most important person in my life is a woman and I remain alive because of her love. Yet I never have found a satisfactory explanation for the question of what is love. To understand “Love” we need a story. A human mind creates stories. The story becomes reality. Go ahead. Think about it. Thinking makes you and me human. A rock or a tree may think also, but at a different speed. We only deal with what we can compare to in our environment. Figure that out.

Why do I think we exist in the most interesting time ever?

I was comfortable in the time of the Cold War. The Soviet Empire and the Capitalist nations were close to equal on the world stage and no one had the upper hand. People started weaponizing money and hurting each other’s economies. War and military industries took over and resources went to killing instead of improving life. Russia lost Afghanistan, the Berlin Wall collapsed and Putin took over Crimea. Everywhere poor migrants attempted to find a better life, and many died. The Soviet block was starving and well-equipped armies faced off, like Iran against Iraq. The world became more dangerous. Even family units fought to get on sinking boats and human smuggling flourished. Many people realized that there was no safe place for them to go to. Can it get more interesting? It did. Human extinction loomed around.

A beautiful world that has all we need is being wasted while not just humans but also animals are suffering pains worse than death for so many, who mostly have done nothing to deserve it. Some are fighting often just to get on the top of the pile. Most of them don’t need to do so. They want to win or be ahead, enjoying their addictions and not even trying to break bad habits. They lost their moral compass. I am watching a world in danger of destroying itself. I call it “Interesting.”

I am a human and I fear living in such interesting times. We, the people that after the great wars wanted to give everything to our children. The children didn’t appreciate the gift and simply wanted more. We gave to other people, to people who selfishly took what they could without considering how or when to pay back. They lost the honor that we tried to instill in them. Some attempted to copy us and make sacrifices, while many considered cheating to be good business. The leaders gave a bad example. Not a world to envy. My fear for the world increased. Russian armies attacked Ukraine, while Israeli armies demolished terrorist camps mercilessly. The innocent, easily led by religious ferver, died in the thousands. They still do. They can’t defend themselves, so resort to lies and deception, which weakens their ability to hold the moral grounds.

My world is unpredictable and interesting, but there is not much holding it together. We humans set some of it up against the rest and the peaceful valley that I hide in is in danger of breaking. People use Social Media to attack each other. Some level of evil filtered through my perch, causing my ability to use the power of God to diminish, but I desperately need it while the world is in turmoil.

My body is facing extinction from the inside. Doctors, technology, and God himself seem to fight for me, but something inside me is not lined up. I need perfect harmony with the universe which I can’t get.

The world is moving on its own, motivated by a force that I do not understand but fully trust to do the right thing. Will there be a world for me after this life is over? I believe so.

Others will bury or cremate me and say the right words. The “I am” with my name will not know what has changed. If you are dead, you don’t see yourself from the outside. At least that is what I think.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

 

Like water under a bridge, time can’t stop.

 

Like water under a bridge, time can’t stop.

Life is a constant change. Nothing ever stays the same for long, and it is filtered by the human mind. Only some events are remembered, while others must be forgotten. The most important event in my human memory is my birth into this world, and I remember none of it. Many thousands of years ago, humans appeared on earth. Later, writing happened, and a story emerged. Humans were created from nothing and were assigned names. The male human was told to name all the other creatures, and they recorded in writing. The humans were destined to suffer by working for a living and giving birth. That was written. Hundreds of thousands of years later, memory at last.

Memories aside, I wish to know about my humble beginnings. All that I can know is from the memories of those older than me and their stories are not the same. I remember some things on my own, but my mind is playing tricks on me. Is it trying to remember the good and forget the bad? Could it be remembering the most useful information? Useful for who or what? Confusing.

Does the mind try to remember things to lead me to behave or make choices other than I would make on my own? I wish I knew.

Would that be the wish or direction of God? Is He the boss or do I have free will?

I belong to a big church organization we call Roman Catholic. There are many others and we should honor them all for their good intentions. Many we should be careful with, especially where money is concerned. It’s easy to lose faith in God if we are cheated. Sex plays a part as well. Christ didn’t teach about pleasure, but people expect pleasure and benefit from religion.

A few years ago, my church elected a new leader. The Pope can assume a name other than his birth name and use it for inspiration. Our newly elected Pope chose the name Francis, based on the most popular saint in the world, St Francis of Assisi. St. Francis is popular with Catholics and other religions. He is the most Christ-like person we know of. The name inspired people all over. It does not remind people of prosperity or winning in competition. Francis in the 12th century tried to be a soldier but ended up paying a ransom for his freedom. He was a classic case of God directing a human towards a divine goal.

He became the living example of a perfect human being for those of us who care about what a human should be like. Most of us humans can only wish to have a role model of a human that is worth trying to be like. Our constant search for how to be better, stronger, more powerful, and so on, blocks us from becoming better persons. The best we can manage is increased production or other traits that don’t improve the kind of human we become.

Pope Francis, who was elected to be the spiritual leader of over a billion human beings, made a statement by choosing the name of the simple little Frier Francis, who changed the church a thousand years ago. If the Church is going to survive into future generations, it must change. Not change into a more attractive or popular form but into the vision of the founder, known to its followers as the son of God. A thousand years of making the institution more rich, elaborate, and beautiful, must go back to the original teachings. The greatest commandment of them all is “Love your neighbor as yourself.” How could it be done without destroying the fabric that held it together remains unknown.

The Pope wants change, so change will come. It will be a change in the hearts and minds of its people or it will fail. The vast organization is searching for how to change back to its origins. We are looking for a simpler way of life. No better artwork, more financial influence, or artistic expression. Humans are looking to improve the way we exist together.

The change is happening in the remote prairies of Canada. Where there are only a few churches and a sparse population, churches are burning down. The art is destroyed, becoming burnt black holes and the music almost stops. The church is changing whether we like it. Those who cause the change feel justified by an old vendetta. Unmarked graves. So sad that it came to this.

The predominant religions will all need to change. They strayed away from the original goals and must correct the destination. People are needed to build a new society and we can only get them from around us. We will harness our efforts towards working together. Humans have the power of God in them. It can only release and be usefully combined with others. Free will works only when humans want it to work, for a common good goal. It is happening here and now.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

It is 2024 and my little mountain community is quiet and pleasant.

 

It is 2024 and my little mountain community is quiet and pleasant.

 There is not much snow but it will change. The mountains will be white and people will get to wear their gift winter attires and new snow boots. In the evenings, the streetlights come on, and the picture changes. I love what I see. Some people come out for a walk, while others talk in the stores and everyone is greeted with a nod or a warm hello if they know others or even if they don’t. I close my eyes and think, am I alive or is this the world that the bible calls the Kingdom? How would I improve it? I have no idea.

We do not design some things for improvement. A human cannot imagine something better than what we have, so we leave it alone for a while. Otherwise, we make very small unneeded changes.

Since I finished a set of cancer treatments recently, I will not know about next Christmas for a while. I have tremendous help on the medical side and technology, plus experience bending over to keep me alive. I also have the benefit of people praying for me. It helps those of us who believe that it does. Some do and others don’t. I do.

I see on the news hospitals in Canada buckling down under pressure and staff shortages. Doctors walk between sick people on the floor in emergency rooms, unable to help. The politicians who failed to plan and use resources properly are working hard to shift blame from themselves. Some poor immigrants with mops are wiping dark spots off the floors. Some of them are not food-secured and are unhoused people. Nurses are all talking about changing professions. Gone are the days in which we all banged pots and pans cheering our most needed yet lowest-paid workers who saved us from a pandemic.

I used to see signs on businesses saying “under new management.” Now we should have banners stating “under poor management.” Our money is going to what we don’t care about while health care, education, and infrastructure are not attended to. According to the leaders, I show more concern for transgender issues than for the well-being of grandmothers in senior homes.  The leaders are wrong.

It’s not all bad, however. I arrived at our hospital at around 8:00 pm in severe pain. In less than ten minutes, a very professional nurse took all my information, not skipping a step. I was screaming in pain, so they isolated me and in a few more minutes, an intern checked me. She was followed by a doctor who had already talked with my physician and had a plan.

On the next day, the situation repeated and a new doctor was trying other medications and in two hours I was stabilized and could go home. The lab and x-ray departments were working, and the staff was not only professional but also had the best bedside manners we can imagine. On the way home, I noticed how beautiful our municipality was at night. How do I deserve that? I chose right when I was going to retire. Sadly, I couldn’t have more choice about provincial and Federal elections. The private media interfered, I think. I don’t know how they did it. Here we have private media but it is operating as media used to work in the good old days.

I review my situation on the way home. Many friends and family are getting ready for winter vacations while others are coming here to enjoy our winter. Bless them all. Life may be ours to enjoy, but many are suffering while we don’t need to suffer. There is more than enough for all of us if we just share. People will help even those who don’t work. We always do. Trust the divine spark in humanity. It’s there. My heart cries for all the young people fighting wars. We count civilians killed and maimed but rarely mention the soldiers on either side.

I try to pray for peace. People around me are making a show of praying and it makes me feel bad. We can’t ask God for peace while maximizing our pleasure by disregarding those who suffer. God knows who is sincere and who isn’t, and I am not even sure about myself.

I don’t know how long I will live, but I wish to live where there is peace and goodwill. The Crowsnest Pass is close to it. People offer me help and pray for me. Others use their skills and hard work to keep me and my family happy.

A dark cloud is forming in front of my home. Someone threw a dog a bone and the neighbors, including me, are snarling, baring their teeth. A person is threatening to steal a view that others purchased in good faith and the council is debating. Private interest collides with the use of the commons.

Will something irreparably ruin my dream of a wonderful place to retire?

The weather is cooling, and winter is here. What will 2024 bring us if we don’t ask for too much and care about each other? God bless us all. Keep on thinking. It’s our best gift in this life. Take what you need and share the rest. I will try to do the same.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

Who will win the war?

 

Who will win the war?

In the event of a war, Israelis promptly go back to their reserve positions or wherever their presence is required. They grow up knowing that the Jewish state is much smaller than the Muslim states around it and that even those at peace wouldn’t cry if Israel was gone. Muslims don’t accept losing lands to non-Muslims. In Canada and the West, Muslims are the most peaceful people, but in the Middle East, many are not. Folks like the extremists in Iran or Afghanistan often educated them. Consequently, Israelis don’t dare lose a war regardless of how they feel about their internal politics.

When on October 7th Hamas tortured, kidnapped, and killed 1200 Israelis, the rest assumed that their faith would be the same if they didn’t all fight together for their lives. Most Israelis grew up hearing stories about what happened to Jews who didn’t fight. First the Jews of Europe and later the Jews in Israel who fought against the Palestinians and all the Arab countries at once.

Now, Israel boasts one of the best armies in the world, and its entire population undergoes training in the arts of war and functions as a well-disciplined unit. You don’t get to choose who you will fight, but follow your orders to the best of your ability. The faith of your family and friends is on your shoulders.

Stories come out of human minds.

Yosy is a reserve pilot. He is a newly married teacher and has a baby boy. He heard on the news that Hamas burned babies in ovens and then got the call. Report immediately to your unit. A jeep was all ready at the front of his home to take him and he barely hugged his wife Yafa and kissed the baby before running to war. The vehicle was equipped with a siren and flashing lights and in less than an hour; he was at the military base hearing and watching the planes taking off.

He knew where he was and the names of people around. A short while later, dressed in his flight suit, he was waiting to take the plane assigned to him. His briefing told him he would fly to a destination in Gaza and bomb a building next to a school. Yesterday he was teaching at a school. His emotions were fighting his training and sense of duty. The building's residents, targeted for bombing, should have been alerted by now. That wasn’t a part of his mission.

Seated in the familiar cockpit all strapped in, he felt at home. He was less than a year from active duty and years of training and practice. The distance of flying in Israel is minimal in a supersonic jet. What about the kids around the building he was going to bomb crossed his mind? Their people burnt babies in ovens, his mind replied. But they didn’t. Their parents shouldn’t have voted terrorists into government.

His eyes rested on the terrain below. He knew every area of Israel and Gaza from the air. The buildings were small in the distance and he couldn’t see the people, but knew they were there. In his mind’s eye, he pictured them dancing as they did at Nine Eleven. They always do when they hear about Americans or Israelis being hurt. They shout Allahu Akbar and shoot in the air. But we hurt them first, crossed his mind. They refused peace; he remembers his teacher in school saying. He remains vigilant just in case the enemy has some anti-air weapons, but they don’t. In the distance, he saw a salvo of missiles heading toward the Israeli side. He circled around and saw the Iron Dome going up to meet the offense. They are shooting at my family; he thought. But the children did nothing. Bombs away.

The smoke rose, and Yosy couldn’t see a thing. Only the pictures in his mind. Bodies buried, fires, and kids crying can’t find their parents. Choking dust and smoke. It’s a war that they started. They didn’t just kill they tortured and beheaded people.

Yosy’s grandmother used to tell him stories about the war. She said that there is a God and against him is the dark Lord. They fight in our minds, she repeated often. If we go for revenge and terror, the dark Lord wins. Everybody will kill everyone else. People can change, but it starts with us. God has to win in your minds.

They planned the attack on Israel for a long time. Equipment and training take long to obtain. Brainwashing of participants is not instantaneous. They predicted the effects and calculated the use of ordinary Gazan's sufferings to sway world opinion. It was all executed meticulously and we may ask, why now?

The answer is that Israel and Saudia Arabia were close to signing a peace agreement. The Iranian people wouldn’t oppose it, but the leadership couldn’t have it. Both the Israelis killed in the music festival and surrounding towns, as well as the poor everyday Palestinians, are paying with their blood for an old religious and political feud.

Yosy and his comrades will have to deal with their mental health problems for a long time. Their political leader may turn himself from a wanted man to a hero and the world may be at war. Some people don’t care. The dark Lord already possesses their souls.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

Old Man’s Thoughts.

 

 Old Man’s Thoughts.

When I was about 25, my boss told me I must join our pension plan. It did not impress me. It was a large sum, and I was too young to think about someday when I would be 65 and receive a benefit. I didn’t trust the politicians even in those days when they did much more for us than they do now.

More money in our pockets is a good election slogan, but we can’t do it. I couldn’t at 25 make a significant commitment to save for retirement. I truly believed that I would do something that would provide me with the money that I would need for retirement. I and some millions of young people bought into the American dream. We were going to work hard and get rich, and it didn’t happen.

Thank God someone wiser organized pension plans that were invested professionally and accumulated the money needed for the later years of life. That money financed some ventures that made more money and left us with enough to live the rest of our lives comfortably without asking the young generation for help. Yes, our pensions are financed by us and our employers. The money should be invested in our future and not for politician’s pet projects.

It worked well until politicians decided to dip into it for their own benefit. They could and did take over managing the money and lost as I expected. Good politicians are not necessarily good investment managers. By investing for political reasons, they lose but don’t care. In four or eight years, they will collect their pensions and go play a new game.

Now I am the last of my group of friends from the old days. My best friend, (and my best man), is dying from COVID and other health issues. For me, what’s left is isolation and prayers to stay alive a little longer. Each time that I go out, I meet some folks who tell me not to get vaccinated since they had some health issues after getting vaccinated. They feel justified in recommending not to listen to the doctors since they themselves know better. I choose to listen to my doctor.

However, all the COVID issues will be forgotten ten years from now. We have bigger problems to deal with. We live in a scary world which doesn’t have to be that way. Natural disasters, wars, baffling weather, hate, and vengeance are just a few things I see. Greed and competition for turf are more common than any positive emotions. Almost anywhere I look people are divided half against the other half. Yet the Earth can provide for all and people can solve all the problems we have without fighting. If we give all people what they need, not want, we will have a lot to spare.

When we search history and pre-history, we see a few interesting facts. There have been great civilizations before us. They either failed to protect themselves or destroyed each other and disappeared. Knowledge that we don’t yet possess existed on this planet several times over and was wiped out. It arouses my curiosity and makes me think about where we are heading.

All the past generations had a conflict between good and evil or light and dark. Only the difference is blurred out. Those who win always write history. The side that lost gets no air time. Yet, if we could ask those who lived before us, we would always find people believing that the side we are talking to is the side of good and the other the side of bad.

All sides have good and bad intermingled. All sides get corrupted by power and people feel sorry for the weak but join the strong. This is enhanced by those who preach that God is on their side. No, He isn’t.

God created not the same but equal and gave humans free will. Now, He is waiting to see what we will do. Will we join the dead civilizations or be the ones created in His image? We are living through the latest test right now. It is being tested around each kitchen table, in every community, and worldwide. None of us escapes the test. It is between my wife and me, and between America and China at the same time. It is decided by loving negotiations and by great modern equipped armies.

A relatively slight change in people’s outlook on life can solve problems and perhaps save the world. Why are we not doing it? Mostly because none of us wants to lose and all of us wish to win. Those are animal instincts, not human values. This is where we need help from God. If we all accepted that God wants us to have His kingdom on Earth, we could have it.

Sadly, we may have to fight for it. Rudolph will not give up his leadership position since he has the red nose. We will do what we must as well as we can not forgetting that peace and happiness are the goals.

Goodness can become a reality in some small place and spread throughout the whole body. People follow the example, good or bad. The actual fight is inside each of us and we must believe that we can win. Some day cooperation will eliminate competition.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

A balanced life, for free.

 

A balanced life, for free.

If you ask me about my level of happiness, living in the Crowsnest Pass Alberta, I will rate it high. My place is beautiful, and friendly, has wonderful services, and is full of potential. Yet, when the UN does its World Happiness Report rating of how happy people are in their countries, Canada doesn’t score as high as expected. The northern European countries score the highest even without all the natural advantages that we have. The weather is the same and we all are educated and enjoy modern health care. Why are they happier than we are?

The other day I was en route back to Blairmore in the dark. The temperature was 6° C in Nanton, so I opted to take Highway 22. In five minutes, the temperature dipped to 1° C hovering back and forth to 0° C. A vehicle in front of me swerved dangerously in front of an oncoming truck and I slowed down to 60 km/h. It was going to be a long drive home. Once I cleared the foothills, the road dried up, and the temperature stayed at 1° C. It occurred to me that minute differences in our environment or even just thinking can make an enormous difference to our quality of life. What is one degree? Dry road instead of ice.

Take Sweden compared to Canada. It’s a smaller country with about ten million people versus our almost forty million, or the US, close to 400 million. They produce much of what they need. Their one brand of automobiles, Volvo, is competing with the other major brands in the world. People who want a good car for a good price buy it. Volvo invented the seat belts and provided the patent free to the rest of the world, saving many lives. Their simple sensible brands do well. You can find H&M clothing in most fancy malls. IKEA products are found everywhere.

The Swedes dress nice, but nothing flashy. It is considered bad manners for the Swedish people to flaunt their wealth. They have millionaires and billionaires, but you wouldn’t know it. No Mar-a-Lagos and golden staircases in Sweden. A few years ago, a picture became viral depicting their Princess Madeleine in the street picking up her dog’s poop. All they do is aim at moderation and practicality. People learn to say no to what they don’t need and consider equality in all they do. They have a perfect public transportation system and use it. Bus stops are fitted with daylight bulbs to help ward off depression in the long winters.

The owner of IKEA, who is worth around fifty billion, was once denied entry to a gala where he was supposed to receive a prestigious award because he arrived by bus. He wouldn’t have fared much better if he drove his fifteen-year-old Volvo instead.

Driving is a way for most people to show their wealth around the world. In Sweden, you don’t see many expensive cars. The people are content driving the dependable Volvo, which is very comfortable and behaves very well on roads like our Highway 22 on a freezing night.

Jealousy is a major reason for human conflicts. In Sweden, there is hardly anyone to be jealous of. Swedes don’t enjoy showing off. Everyone in Sweden is middle class, ensuring a balanced society. They have a different attitude toward work. There is no competition to avoid getting fired, as we often have. People do their work well without it and never work overtime. They value time with family, friends, nature, and the arts. At the same time, they managed to develop and produce one of the world’s best fighter planes, while Canadians will pay hundreds of millions of dollars for an American fighter that may arrive late.

All Swedes have generous holidays, free education, and healthcare they can afford. Taxes cover the payment for generous maternal and paternal leave that Swedes expect. They pay some of the highest taxes in the world, depending on their income. If you are a top earner, you may top 50%. There is no monetary reward for overworking, and people don’t do it. Much different, for example, from Japan, where work takes away all other values in life. Here, balance is more important than getting ahead. The Swedes will defend their choice to pay and receive what they do. They don’t need lawyers and accountants to file their taxes. They are happy the way it is.

Just like many Canadians, they are able to enjoy the long, cold winters. They take their vitamin D and play winter sports. They see the beauty of winter scenery and like wearing winter clothes for a while. An old Swedish lady told me that if they didn’t have the winters, they wouldn’t enjoy summer as much. Summer is a good time for waxing the skis.

A balanced life offers them the opportunity to enjoy their family, and they do. Many keep small summer homes and spend much time on the water. Moms can mother and guys can father. They don’t live for show; they exist naturally. In the sixties, we were mesmerized by their longer lives and began our fitness craze that is still going on.

A tiny difference in mentality can have a tremendous difference in life, just like one degree can change the drive home from stress to joy. Acceptance and balance versus a constant attempt to show superiority

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

The world or the Money.

 

The world or the Money.

About a hundred and some years ago, a smart man named Henry Ford introduced the assembly line. Cars were produced up to that point by highly skilled people who understood all the parts and developed their skills over many years. With the assembly line, many workers could learn how to make small parts and fit them together to make the vehicles. Each didn’t know how to make a car. It wasn’t a new idea. The Venetians in Italy did the same to build ships hundreds of years earlier. It was new for now and set up the US on the road to prosperity.

Mr Ford understood a very important aspect of economics. If you produce all those cars, who is going to afford to buy them? He insisted that those who build the automobile must make enough wages to purchase them. Of course, they must first have food, shelter, and other needs. The workers soon had enough money for indoor plumbing, entertainment, and many other conveniences that were invented, manufactured, and sold, creating economic prosperity.

The idea that Henry Ford started spread out throughout the United States fast and growth became synonymous with prosperity. Soon, people understood that increasing the population would catalyze economic growth. America didn’t have the European setbacks of wanting only what was good for its own nationality. They were open to any Caucasian people and made colored people available to serve them. Some races were more or less desirable than others. There were also fewer restrictions on space for growth. Other powers did not compete for space in the country because of its enormous size.

The United States was on the way to becoming a rival to the old colonial powers. New people flocked to get in and they built new economic centres on the East and West coasts. Some people became very rich while others enjoyed the American Dream as people marvel at dreaming about winning the lottery. All the prosperity and hard work didn’t save them from the great depression. Great wars were fought, and those who survived enjoyed a period of pleasant existence. The rich feared the spread of Communism and all were fearful of what Fascism could do. Hitler was fresh in their minds.

A period of peace and prosperity marked the time after the Second World War, even while the Cold War was raging in the background. The working people never had it so good. Now people learned how to use democracy to their advantage while the Elites focused on how to maximise their power and profits. They joined the religious fundamentalists for political reasons.

I remember discussing with fellow workers who were unsure about what benefits to request in the next union contract. Life was good and minorities, including women, felt reasonably good about how things were shaping. We fought, on many fronts, won, and now enjoyed the fruits.

Our European allies, including the defeated Germany, went the Social Democratic way, while America built itself on the Capitalistic model. The problem is that they didn’t read the end of the book about capitalism. Canada tried to stay in the middle lane.

The old British Empire, from which came both the US and Canada, ruled by dividing people. In North America existed many options to divide the population and set groups against each other. There was no firm sense of national unity. All the people had ancestors from many nations. There was no religious unity either. All faiths had strong representations. The elites chose to divide on economic grounds.

Soon we found ourselves in a new situation, with a higher Middle Class and a much bigger lower Middle Class. Blue collar shirts versus white collar shirts. Everyone was no longer seeking a better peaceful life but to climb on others for a higher position on the economic scale. The workers instead of savings had debt limits, while the others had investment portfolios. All wanted more government services and less taxes. GDP rose and resource extraction did as well.

The humans of Earth in the last few generations went on a rampage, exploiting natural resources as if there was no tomorrow. We forgot about future generations and the need for the planet to regenerate while we focused on competing for higher status.

No longer do people consider natural cycles to be the will of God, and we place our faith in our fledgling science. The planet groaned in pain. It gave life to so many life forms that now we are destroying its ability to sustain life.

A good example is oil. It bridged us from animal power to electronics, but now we are wasting it by unnecessarily burning it. The only consideration we have is the price per barrel and the financial dividends to investors or export taxes for governments. When we use all the oil, there is nothing on Earth that can replace it.

It is now the first time in human history that we have to sacrifice for yet unborn generations in the future. We may have to fight for their future. What will we do?

Worlds are created by what we call God. People make money.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

Good versus Evil.

 

 Good versus Evil.

Each of us can go back to the earliest memory of our life. It may be a genuine memory or one that we were told about. We also remember “the bad guys.” Our parents or guardians pass on to us the fear and hate of some others. In my case, it was the Nazis, followed by the Communists and the Arabs. They were all bad guys. My parent’s friends and the people they dealt with were the “good guys’, but we had to watch almost everyone since they could cheat us.

We had good German people, Russian and Arab friends, and neighbors, but the nation or race was scary. Humans need a boogie man who is worse than us. We don’t manage to be as good as some people are, but we can always find someone less than ourselves. We cheat in business and call it smart, but watch the less fortunate noticing their deficiencies. There is a fear of homeless people, for example. We don’t help them since they supposedly will use our money to buy cigarettes and booze; we say. Some undoubtedly will. Some high-class people will cheat all of us out of a lot of money and we will try to gain their favor. The same with politicians who gain from their positions. We shower them with compliments and they provide political favors in return.

There are signs that humans like us lived on Earth as far back as 200,000 years ago. We have evidence of writings from over 10,000 years ago. It seems as if the fight between good and evil always existed. Also, there was always a competition for leadership. People naturally fight for the alfa dog position. This is animal instinct behavior. There are always people who consider it differentiating between animals and humans. It is a conflict between those who look for selfish gain and others seeking cooperation for the benefit of all. The Athenians were developing democracy while the Spartans wanted strength at all costs.

There are still many people around who remember the time that Star Wars movie became a hit. That sci-fi piece of art depicted the distinction between good and evil and humanity's interaction with the supernatural.

It had the appeal of new special effects, great cinematography, and talented acting. The movie took the world by storm. To this day, there are people in Great Britain who formed an official religion around the principal theme of believing in the “Force”. It doesn’t take much imagination to guess what the “Force” is representing. I call it the universal mind, since its other more common name is no longer popular.

In Star Wars we witness a corrupt dark lord using the force for evil reasons, wanting to win the leadership of all intelligent life forms. The Force is an invisible great power humans can use for right or wrong if they know how. It plays with humans, seemingly to let us learn some lessons that it alone knows.

We can easily see in the Old Testament how the Gods (rolled into one) can be mean beyond our comprehension. Take, for example, Noah’s flood. People didn’t listen, so a flood killed the whole Earth’s population, women, children, and animals. Sodom and Gomorrah were obliterated supposedly for sexual misbehavior. The Egyptian people suffered the ten plagues after God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, leading him to anger God. In the end, all Egyptian firstborn males were killed, and Pharaoh’s army was drowned. God, or the Force was also used to punish His own people in the cruelest ways. It was a world in which the power of a spiritual being kept law and order using powers not available to the opposing force.

The entire picture was changed two thousand years ago when God fathered a son who walked the Earth in a human form. Now, words took the first place and people used miracles only minimally. The power of God was diverted to the use of wisdom. The son taught humans to be shepherds and what they must do themselves to have a perfect society on a healthy planet.

We struggled but couldn’t achieve the goal. In came a new idea from the art world. The Jedi of Star Wars. Humans trained beyond anything known so far, who used the Force for good instead of evil. They could fight, but fairly and only for the good.

A new option was discovered. The conflict now can be not for dominating and subjugating the world but for making it better for all while controlling evil by the only thing it understands. The measured use of force dominated by intellect and good intentions.  

There is no need for a strong man or emperor in that world. Power could be in the hands of each community designed for their circumstances. An educated, well-trained super moral Jedi cast can serve the Force, and the people aimed to build the perfect society. To preserve our humanity, we would combine old biological technology with artificial intelligence. Otherwise, we may be another failed experiment and something else will take our place. Future archeologists will dust our bones and artifacts trying to figure out where we went wrong.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

Realities.

 

 Realities.

What can be truer than reality? I see it and I believe it. Courts function on that principle. If a crime was committed, we search for eyewitnesses, or lately for camera footage showing what really happened. As I was growing up and learning to be a human being (we all do) science also grew. Humans materialized some of the greatest scientific discoveries just before I came to earth. I admired the people who were famous for their discoveries, like Albert Einstein in science and the Mahatma Gandhi in politics.

Just recently, people, or I should say, influential thinkers, began to question what we learned and took for granted. Some of it came from studying old writings that were not available until lately. Perhaps it was available but not understood. For example, in the beginning, there was the word, and the word was God.

How can God be a word? One likely explanation is: A word is an idea. Could it be that those who wrote the bible considered God to be an idea? There is no reason to believe that they didn’t. God can be anything, any place, at any time.

There are people now seriously doubting that reality itself is what we always thought it is. I touched upon this before in other articles. Life could be a dream. Some dreams are ridiculous and we know we are dreaming. Some can be so real that we don’t know they are dreams until we wake up. One philosopher said that all of life is a dream from which we wake up only a few times to know that it is a dream. We don’t have to wake up. Possibly when we die, we wake up.

It is possible that we exist only in the material world, and we are material beings. We could be like a caterpillar that turns into a cocoon, dies, and from it emerges a beautiful butterfly.  

Now there is a new idea becoming popular. My generation is shifting away from traditional religious beliefs and exploring new ways to understand our innate connection to a higher power beyond material things. Our senses, visual, hearing, touch, smell and so on — only detect what is in light or exists because of light. There is a side that we call “dark”, but only because we can’t see in it.

A bat, for example, doesn’t see in light the way we do. It uses ultrasonic sounds to see and exists very well. Much more of our universe is a dark matter than that which we see. The possibilities of life forms existing in it out of our spectrum are endless. A life form may be nothing like we are used to. It can be invisible to us, and we may, but not necessarily, be invisible to it.

One theory that now is the subject of many books appeals to me most. It became popular with the movie, The Matrix. We could be existing in the mind of a computer or a biological entity, that makes up our existence to be real to us.

All of what we call reality is orchestrated in our brains. What I see is visible in light. My eyes collect bits of light, converting them to electrical signals traveling in my skull to my brain. The brain interprets those signals into pictures that I use for creating my reality in my conscience. I learned to create reality with all its beauty and ugliness, and I do so all the time. It’s like the ultimate virtual reality, but we don’t know who started it and why.

To know more about reality, we first must answer the question, who we are. Sounds easy, but it’s not so. At church, we say my body or my soul. We admit that I am not either. If it’s mine then it can’t be me. Then, who are we?

I go back to the biblical story about Moses asking God to tell him His name. God said “I am” who I am. The bible often mentions that someone who died went to be with his past generations. His fathers. It could be his mothers also depending on how we interpret it.

I always lived in my reality, never doubting it. As I said, I see it, so I believe it. Other people say and do things that seem strange to me. The world is constantly in conflict between good and evil, but we disagree with which is which.

As I get older, I realize more and more that there is more than one reality for humans. It strikes me as impossible, yet it happens. As far as I can understand, people convince themselves that something is a reality. When we do, it is impossible to change. After all, each of us thinks, how can we change reality?

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

A nice place in the mountains.

 

 A nice place in the mountains.

About 55 years ago, my family bought our first little car and went exploring our new country. On one of those trips, we ended up in a set of mining towns called The Crownest Pass. It was in the mountains but wasn’t impressive. There were some gas stations and restaurants, so we stopped for lunch. My mom ran a finger over the seat of a chair and lifted it marked with black dust. The server hurried up and wiped the table and chairs, saying something about it being a coal mining town, and we ordered our food. A local woman at the next table said something about how we should see the wash after it was dried on the clothesline.

The folks around us had a certain look to them. They were kind of gray, wrinkled, and their heads were bent forward. My mom said that it reminded her of some mining town she visited in her childhood in Europe. Miners, she said, were mountain people. They were good hard-working folks but didn’t live long. It's called here Black Lung, my father added. We drove around a bit, noticing stores, churches, and even a car lot, but there was no reason to stay. Next, we visited a farming town, Pincher Creek, and it was brighter and gave us a cleaner feeling. My dad said that it would be nice if Pincher Creek was in the mountains.

When I was about ten years away from retirement, I started looking for a little town to retire to. A co-worker mentioned the Crowsnest Pass. She said that there were no more operating coal mines, and the place was clean. There were some little towns to choose from and you could purchase a place in the mountains. In the more touristy places, one could only lease a place but not own it.

I made another trip to the land beyond the Frank slide and it pleasantly surprised me. The Pass was clean and offered all the benefits of mountain towns, but at a reasonable price. There were fewer businesses and people, but a vibrant community. People describe Canadians as “nice” but here the people were nicer for some reason. I met another person who was looking at real estate and he said, “This is the place that time has forgotten”. Another said that I should visit when they do the Thunder in the Valley. Others in Calgary also described the great show of fireworks in the mountain valley.

I found my retirement place. Purchased some land and built a modest home. Originally, the people told me about great winds, a place where there is nothing to do, no cultural life, a depressed economy, and everyone running away. I don’t see any of it. Now I am an old-timer here. I can’t get over how blessed I am. The Pass economy picked up, new people are here and the local people no longer wish to leave the place as they did a while back. They see the value of where they are. Soon those who left in the early days will come back to retire here. After trying the rat race of the city, folks realize what we have here. We live in God’s country. All we have to do is open our eyes and see it.

In my 25 years here, I saw many folks leaving the place to be closer to family who moved away or to medical facilities. After a while, they come for a visit and they don’t look the same. It’s not only the natural aging, but being away from a great community and mountain air. While in the city they wait twenty hours at Emergency, here they get treated in the first hour. Kids get more attention in schools and there is hardly anything that we can’t buy here if we can wait for a week. You can sit at a local coffee shop and in a short while make new friends. It’s easy to join a club of like-minded people or watch local sports. People still go to their choice of church and treat the other religions with the respect that they like to be treated. It is no wonder that here we can meet older people living independently or with little help.

Across from my home, I see a holiday home that is often rented out. Our lives here always leave the visitors from near and far impressed. Some come down and talk to me. Often they express how lucky they think we are.

I think that what happened here is interesting. All the folks who wanted a busy life full of stress and constant competition left in the pursuit of happiness. Those who remained were people happy with simpler lives close to nature where we care about each other. Here, we cherish a different set of values. Less glitter and more warm hearths. Creativity stumps accumulation and relationships beat showing off.

Winter clouds set over the mountains, and the Pass is getting ready for another winter. The Plains First Nations used to come here for the winters. To me, it’s more beautiful here with the snow than in the hot parts of the world where there is no seasonal variation.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

The Romans renamed Israel Palestine.

 

The Romans renamed Israel Palestine.

When people know you were born in some country, they assume you know a lot about it, even if you left it as a child. Last Saturday, when the Hamas Palestinians attacked Israel, I was facing questions. People know I was born in Israel.

The attack was well-planned, meticulously carried out, and designed to terrorize a nation. Those who carried it out were well-equipped and prepared to die for what they believed was a just cause. We saw a bunch of murderous terrorists attack innocent people, but to them, they were martyrs giving their lives to save their people. They did it by exacting the highest possible price. They take being called animals, terrorists, or anything else as a compliment because it shows their bravery, skill, and commitment to their cause. All of them who were killed believed that their actions would deliver them straight to paradise, where God would reward them.

In that attack on Israel, many innocent people suffered and died. To me, they are the grandchildren of those I grew up with. The places Hamas destroyed look exactly like where I lived while growing up. The blood that was spilled joined blood from many generations of people who attempted to solve problems by force and war. In the Middle East, the law of the desert is strong. People believe that brutality is the only answer that will prevent people from hurting you. Here we have the same kind of people who want revenge to be a deterrent.

Israel, where I grew up, comprised of people who survived the brutality of the Second World War. The atrocities of Hitler, Stalin, and other colonial-minded leaders marked all my teachers. They told us, kids, how important it was to keep our humanity when others perform atrocities. I heard so often that “we don’t want to be like them”, the Nazis, or Soviets. They encouraged us to be civilized in dealing with the Palestinians who lived with us. I lived on a farm with a Palestinian family of shepherds and shared a desk in grade nine with a Christian Palestinian boy. They didn't sympathize with Hamas and were worried about the extremist Jewish nationalists now in Netanyahu's coalition. Those wish to rid Israel of other religions disregarding some biblical teachings to treat outsiders fairly.

Of course, other groups are against Zionism, wanting to live in the holy land in peace with all others. There are also many political parties representing a whole range of ideologies. The Jews who are not pro-Zionism are not very popular these days, but there are many.

During the planning stages of Israel under British rule, Zionists opposed Palestinians living alongside Jews because of concerns about democratic influence on the Jewish state. They had the numbers in their favor. Many Palestinians were warned about the upcoming independence war of 1948 and told they would be safe if they temporarily moved to Gaza and other areas under Arab control. Israel won and they couldn’t come back. Their young people started violent movements such as Hamas that the majority didn’t support. We Canadians had our FLQ and the Riel rebellion. It is always a fight for land and freedom and always exploited by some who want power. The innocent pays the price.

I predicted the current war months ago when Netanyahu aligned with Israeli groups aiming to use military force to remove Palestinians from disputed territories. They provoked again and again, leading the more militant factions on both sides to take action, which they did. No one expected Israel to be caught flat-footed as they were.

What happened reminded me of Pearl Harbour and 9/11. Putin is the beneficiary since the world took its eyes off Ukraine. Now many Israeli peace-loving citizens are dead, and the poorest Palestinians are suffering like never before. Those remaining alive are told again to leave their homes and later come back. When they will try, I am sure there will be new conditions attached.

The Jewish people who suffered so much in other countries, were given the land of Israel as a “land without people to a people with no land”. The people on the land were called “natives” and considered less than human. The British and the West knew some who aligned with Hitler like the Mufti of Jerusalem.

Both sides in the Israeli conflict are partly responsible, but innocent people are suffering. The world is trying to use their suffering for political gains.

If I had a chance to tell the Israelis and Palestinians what I think they should do, what would I say? Very smart people have been trying for years to find a solution, and so far they haven’t. I am not that smart, so I try to get answers from the scriptures. Can I tell them to forgive and forget? To love one another? I can’t, since I don’t believe they could.

The best I could offer is that since Jews, Muslims, and Christians all believe in the Ten Commandments, they can follow them. Don’t interpret, or philosophy, just google it or look in your holy book and do what it says. You can’t fix the past but can make concessions for the future. Do it fairly and start again. Don’t take too long. Please pray for peace.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

What is it all for, anyway?

 

What is it all for, anyway?

She was 18 and went into labor prematurely. The people in the Kibbutz in Israel chose to send her to the hospital with a tractor instead of the horses. I arrived in the world. I couldn’t speak or do anything else, and I was naked. As hard as I tried, I could never remember that time. All I know is that I accumulated things.

A few years later we lived on a farm and a couple of my parents’ friends visited from the city with their boy, who was roughly my age. Our parents had us in my room and took all my toys out for us to play with. Arick, the other boy, started to sort my toys. He took them one by one, looked at them, and placed the nicest ones behind him, saying, “This is mine”. The cheap and broken toys he left on the floor beside me. I tried to get some back, and he pushed me hard, saying, “It’s mine”. My mom came in and saw tears in my eyes. What’s the matter she said? In the voice of a three-year-old, I explained, Arick is taking all my toys. I didn’t have many.

He had my wooden truck, my stuffed vinyl dog, Pluto, I used to sleep with, and a few more. Don’t worry said mom, he will not take them home. I was worried, and I wanted to play with my toys right now, but my mom told me to be quiet. I was learning one of the biggest lessons that we learn in this life. The world wasn’t fair. Later on, my mom cut the cake she made and gave Arick a bigger piece with more icing. I said I didn’t want cake, so he ate mine as well. So much for peaceful protest.

Life went on. When I was sixteen, my family emigrated to Canada while Arick and his family stayed in Israel. I started a new life accumulating things and knowledge. Arick remained in Israel and was killed in the next war. He was my best childhood friend. I felt guilty, but being a minor, I had to go where my parents went. My dad fought a few wars for Israel. I tried to join the Canadian army, but they couldn’t take me before I was a citizen. I settled for civilian life and, like everyone else, accumulated things. Luckily, for me, a priest I knew, convinced me to upgrade my education. Those were the good years in Alberta when Peter Lougheed was premier. Higher education was available cheaply, and we were building an educated workforce.

I earned a university degree, studied in a technical college, and worked hard for promotions that came one after another. My health wasn’t the best and again, luckily for me, the country accepted universal health care. Now came the period we call middle life. Building a home, raising kids, upgrading vehicles, and trying my damnedest to keep up with the ever-changing world.

A few years later, the now-advanced medical discoveries, saved my life. The doctors implanted a top-of-the-line Pacemaker Defibrillator in my chest, which gave me an extended warranty period. I was alive, but not young again. The question popped into my mind: why am I alive? I can no longer reproduce, and nature doesn’t keep creatures around when they don’t contribute to the genetic pool. Why are we alive?

My generation attempted to solve many human problems. We had the longest period without a major war. Went to the moon, prolonged natural life, saved for the later part of life, and gave human rights to some minority groups, the biggest of them women.

Now the Catholic Church is considering women clergy, and women in politics are common. Sadly, they are becoming like men instead of gracing society with a feminine perspective. My female premier is fighting against measures designed to improve our chance to remain alive on our only planet. She is enticing people with greed. The old Pope is working to convince us to do what we can to prolong human existence.

Did God allow me an additional lifetime to join the fight? My priorities are my family, my faith, and my country. None will survive if we don’t act decisively now. Are old insignificant people like me expected to fight for the world? Where are the young people?

Young people have robust bodies and accumulate things as we did. They look for new experiences and security that they rarely have. Old people know that the Universal Mind doesn’t act on words. The world is unfair. God senses emotions and intentions. We, the old people, now with extended lives have those.

At the end of life, when we will go back naked as when we were born, we no longer do all things for ourselves. That is when we are honest and send the right messages to the invisible mind that formed and controls the universe.

Prayers can work better than physical effort, but only when originated in the right way. Fear, unconditional love, self-sacrifice, and other pure emotions influence reality.

I honor all religions and see something good in all major political ideas. Life is a gift of time in which I can get things and give them away. I can make changes with emotions and intentions. I can’t explain how.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.

Note: The above article was written before the latest war began.

A story with no end.

 

A story with no end.

I woke up just as the sun was making things visible. From the living room window, I observed a bear running by the base of the hill across. He ran until there was a slope going up and continued at the same speed up the hill. Just a few years ago, the hill had bears, moose, deer cougars, and smaller animals. Now it’s full of houses. Should I call anyone to trap and possibly kill the bear? He could be dangerous to people, especially if they feed and try to pet him. A wild bear is not a good prop for taking selfies. Is it more important to stay safe or to let nature do what it has been doing for generations? Who’s hill is it, anyway?

There is a rock ball hurling through space at tremendous speed and on it many life forms, human beings are dominant. For some unknown reason, it made itself just perfect for our existence as we adapted to it. We slowly learned how to thrive, but the invisible power seems to disagree with our methods.

Life for some of us is great, but not for most of us. That includes the animals. The Earth, spinning and speeding through the galaxy, is able to provide all that its creatures need, but the Universal Mind demands cooperation. Humans, unlike other life forms, must use their intellect to survive. The more we know, the more we must do. Nature designed us to be competitive and improve through evolution. Works for everything else, but not for us.

Just like the natural competition between males and females, we can’t exist without each other. When we fight, we come to a point where it becomes obvious that we will destroy ourselves, be gone, or start again from scratch. It happened before and will happen again. We have an almost equal split on most issues.

Humans developed technologies and machines that can perform tasks that were once considered miraculous a short while ago. Much of the recent development has been to prolong our natural life, improve health, produce food, and save us from pain. Much more is added each day to make our lives easy and save us from doing work. Lives in the advanced areas of the world improved and communication increased exponentially. Now people around the world know how much better it is to live in the developed world and the majority who are not wealthy see and envy what the others enjoy.

Many people are trying to join the good life peacefully, even if they perform the undesirable tasks that others refuse to do. This doesn’t work for their children who are born into wealthy environments. They expect returns for their sacrifice and hard work, without needing to cheat or steal to get it. While this is happening, others are risking all to join in. In the poor places, there are wars and insurrections that filter into our country.

Just a short time ago, we had to break up a fight between opposing parties from Africa. Canada is dealing with diplomatic issues over past crimes in Ukraine and Poland, and a scandal from India. We have problems to solve over the treatment of our own First Nations when the country was being formed. There are still many people around who wish to restart the conflict between the French and English Canadians. Others are fighting over sexual variations, sex changes, and abortions. Just as many people are looking for fights as those wanting peace. We have the most fresh water in the world and now we are fighting over water. Global Warming is causing unexpected conflicts.

People find things to fight about everywhere. In some places like Afghanistan, it is about religious practices. Other places fight over political ideologies. Many more are at war over economic issues. The rich want to have more money and the poor wish to have some and divide it amongst many. Very often, conflicts arise about raw power and domination. The biggest war ever was between a few powerful men who wanted to dominate the world. When they do, people fight for freedom and independence. Anything scarce causes people to fight. Gold was the main reason for Europeans taking over South America.

As far as I can see, the biggest reason for fighting is to dominate portions of the planet and do on it what the inhabitants wish or must do to stay alive. People get violent about their native soil and often have some ideas about getting some of the ground that others occupy. Bears and other animals feel the same about their territory. With animals and some people, we feel justified in killing them and taking their land. Take for example the Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh or people in parts of Ukraine.

In my birth country, Israel, Jews have been fighting Palestinians for thousands of years. It is clear to see if we want, that there is pressure from somewhere to teach us we can only win by cooperation and not by fighting and winning. Will we do it, or die fighting? The answer remains unwritten. The story needs an ending.

We must have Democracy and use it to benefit all.

Here is a link to my blog: https://thesimpleravenspost.blogspot.ca/  Feel free to check other articles and comment.